ARTIFACT
The works exhibited here are inspired by the material culture of the people who have lived on Kythera. An artifact is defined as an object made by a human being. It is an object made for use in context of human activity and therefore is an expression of the culture of the people who made and used it. I made these works at different times over more than forty years, so the exhibition is a retrospective focused on material things found or located on Kythera.
The cement frescos are of Minoan pottery excavated from Paliopolis and they are what one usually thinks of as an artifact. The paintings of old tools are equally artifacts, without being ancient. Excavated from places where they had been lost, finding them reveals a clue to some past human activity. I have broadened my interpretation of an artifact to include architectural ruins because, while the scale is larger, to me, they convey the same sense of material remains from past use.

Alexia is the daughter of Peter and Sheri Psaltis, who live in Newcastle, and granddaughter of the late George Psaltis and Alexandra Psaltis (nee, Feros), of Gilgandra, and later Earlwood.

ALEXIA Psaltis’ hair-raising expeditions squeezing through fences to photograph abandoned industrial sites have paid off, culminating in an eye-catching piece selected to hang in the Art Gallery of NSW.

The 2014 dux of Hunter School of the Performing Arts is the woman behind Subsumed, which has been selected for Artexpress, a showcase of the best works of art completed by NSW students as part of last year’s Higher School Certificate.

Of the 219 works selected for exhibitions in galleries across the state, only 37 have been selected for inclusion in the exclusive Art Gallery of NSW exhibit.

‘‘When I heard, I was jumping around in excitement, it was the best feeling,’’ Ms Psaltis said.

‘‘Out of all of my HSC achievements, that’s the one that really stood out to me.’’

It comprises six surrealistic portraits of female figures, representing Mother Nature, being consumed by industrial structures, objects and landscapes that convey destruction and invasion.

Each portrait includes layers of hundreds of photos she captured from both active and abandoned industrial sites including Kooragang Island, Cockatoo Island and around Hexham and Maitland.

‘‘I visited quite a few deserted and unused machinery yards where there was equipment that had rusted and been left to rot,’’ she said.

‘‘It was a bit scary going into the abandoned sites, but I just squeezed through holes in fences.

‘‘The portraits represent how physical, spiritual and psychological identity is threatened by industrialisation, which removes individual human inspiration and imagination.

‘‘We now face a future of surreal, stunted landscapes.’’

Ms Psaltis also completed major works in English Extension II, Music and Society and Culture and was named on the All-round Achievers list for receiving marks in the highest band possible for 10 or more units.

She began her combined law and arts degree at the University of Newcastle in February 2015.

Artexpress at the Art Gallery of NSW will open to the public from Thursday.

The remaining works selected for Artexpress will be on display in venues across the state throughout the remainder of the year.

The exhibition will come to Maitland Regional Art Gallery between September 11 and November 1.

Rationale of the artwork

Alexia Psaltis
Hunter School of the Performing Arts

SUBSUMED

Photomeita
Prints to Breathing Colour Velvet paper

Subsumed is a series of portraits representing the threat to physical, spiritual and psychological identity from rampant industrialisation. The portraits identify how the dominance of industry removes individual human inspiration and imagination. We face a future of surreal, stunted landscapes populated by impaired humanity, symbolised by the replacement of human physicality with machinery. I photographed all the images of industrial structures, objects and landscapes that convey destruction and invasion. I layered these eclectic images with the human portraits to represent the unchecked, pervasive presence of industrial processes in our lives. We are consumed by industry and its detritus.

What is ArtExpress?

ARTEXPRESS is an annual exhibition of artworks created by students from government and non-government schools for the Higher School Certificate Examination in Visual Arts. The works demonstrate exceptional quality across a broad range of subject matter, approaches, styles and media including painting, photography, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, documented forms, textiles and fibre, ceramics, digital animation, film and video, and collections of works.

ARTEXPRESS represents the high standards and diversity achieved by Year 12 Visual Arts students in New South Wales schools.

The continued excellence of the annual ARTEXPRESS exhibition is the outcome of a rigorous Visual Arts curriculum that builds on study from Kindergarten through to Year 12.

Visual Arts is part of the core curriculum in primary school and junior high school and a popular elective for the Higher School Certificate examination.

Student assessment in Visual Arts for the Higher School Certificate is based on submission of a Body of Work plus a written examination. Each students develops their submission through a process, recorded in a Visual Arts Process Diary, which reflects the problem-solving approach of the practising artist.

Equally important especially at senior level, is critical study and art history which plays a crucial role in informing the artworks produced by students.

The works chosen for ARTEXPRESS are a representative selection from over 12,000 examination submissions and reflect not only the talent of the individual students, but also the strength of the curriculum and excellence of Visual Arts teaching in New South Wales schools.

Alexia is the daughter of Peter and Sheri Psaltis, who live in Newcastle, and granddaughter of the late George Psaltis and Alexandra Psaltis (nee, Feros), of Gilgandra, and later Earlwood.

ALEXIA Psaltis’ hair-raising expeditions squeezing through fences to photograph abandoned industrial sites have paid off, culminating in an eye-catching piece selected to hang in the Art Gallery of NSW.

The 2014 dux of Hunter School of the Performing Arts is the woman behind Subsumed, which has been selected for Artexpress, a showcase of the best works of art completed by NSW students as part of last year’s Higher School Certificate.

Of the 219 works selected for exhibitions in galleries across the state, only 37 have been selected for inclusion in the exclusive Art Gallery of NSW exhibit.

‘‘When I heard, I was jumping around in excitement, it was the best feeling,’’ Ms Psaltis said.

‘‘Out of all of my HSC achievements, that’s the one that really stood out to me.’’

It comprises six surrealistic portraits of female figures, representing Mother Nature, being consumed by industrial structures, objects and landscapes that convey destruction and invasion.

Each portrait includes layers of hundreds of photos she captured from both active and abandoned industrial sites including Kooragang Island, Cockatoo Island and around Hexham and Maitland.

‘‘I visited quite a few deserted and unused machinery yards where there was equipment that had rusted and been left to rot,’’ she said.

‘‘It was a bit scary going into the abandoned sites, but I just squeezed through holes in fences.

‘‘The portraits represent how physical, spiritual and psychological identity is threatened by industrialisation, which removes individual human inspiration and imagination.

‘‘We now face a future of surreal, stunted landscapes.’’

Ms Psaltis also completed major works in English Extension II, Music and Society and Culture and was named on the All-round Achievers list for receiving marks in the highest band possible for 10 or more units.

She began her combined law and arts degree at the University of Newcastle in February 2015.

Artexpress at the Art Gallery of NSW will open to the public from Thursday.

The remaining works selected for Artexpress will be on display in venues across the state throughout the remainder of the year.

The exhibition will come to Maitland Regional Art Gallery between September 11 and November 1.

Rationale of the artwork

Alexia Psaltis
Hunter School of the Performing Arts

SUBSUMED

Photomeita
Prints to Breathing Colour Velvet paper

Subsumed is a series of portraits representing the threat to physical, spiritual and psychological identity from rampant industrialisation. The portraits identify how the dominance of industry removes individual human inspiration and imagination. We face a future of surreal, stunted landscapes populated by impaired humanity, symbolised by the replacement of human physicality with machinery. I photographed all the images of industrial structures, objects and landscapes that convey destruction and invasion. I layered these eclectic images with the human portraits to represent the unchecked, pervasive presence of industrial processes in our lives. We are consumed by industry and its detritus.

What is ArtExpress?

ARTEXPRESS is an annual exhibition of artworks created by students from government and non-government schools for the Higher School Certificate Examination in Visual Arts. The works demonstrate exceptional quality across a broad range of subject matter, approaches, styles and media including painting, photography, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, documented forms, textiles and fibre, ceramics, digital animation, film and video, and collections of works.

ARTEXPRESS represents the high standards and diversity achieved by Year 12 Visual Arts students in New South Wales schools.

The continued excellence of the annual ARTEXPRESS exhibition is the outcome of a rigorous Visual Arts curriculum that builds on study from Kindergarten through to Year 12.

Visual Arts is part of the core curriculum in primary school and junior high school and a popular elective for the Higher School Certificate examination.

Student assessment in Visual Arts for the Higher School Certificate is based on submission of a Body of Work plus a written examination. Each students develops their submission through a process, recorded in a Visual Arts Process Diary, which reflects the problem-solving approach of the practising artist.

Equally important especially at senior level, is critical study and art history which plays a crucial role in informing the artworks produced by students.

The works chosen for ARTEXPRESS are a representative selection from over 12,000 examination submissions and reflect not only the talent of the individual students, but also the strength of the curriculum and excellence of Visual Arts teaching in New South Wales schools.

Alexia is the daughter of Peter and Sheri Psaltis, who live in Newcastle, and granddaughter of the late George Psaltis and Alexandra Psaltis (nee, Feros), of Gilgandra, and later Earlwood.

ALEXIA Psaltis’ hair-raising expeditions squeezing through fences to photograph abandoned industrial sites have paid off, culminating in an eye-catching piece selected to hang in the Art Gallery of NSW.

The 2014 dux of Hunter School of the Performing Arts is the woman behind Subsumed, which has been selected for Artexpress, a showcase of the best works of art completed by NSW students as part of last year’s Higher School Certificate.

Of the 219 works selected for exhibitions in galleries across the state, only 37 have been selected for inclusion in the exclusive Art Gallery of NSW exhibit.

‘‘When I heard, I was jumping around in excitement, it was the best feeling,’’ Ms Psaltis said.

‘‘Out of all of my HSC achievements, that’s the one that really stood out to me.’’

It comprises six surrealistic portraits of female figures, representing Mother Nature, being consumed by industrial structures, objects and landscapes that convey destruction and invasion.

Each portrait includes layers of hundreds of photos she captured from both active and abandoned industrial sites including Kooragang Island, Cockatoo Island and around Hexham and Maitland.

‘‘I visited quite a few deserted and unused machinery yards where there was equipment that had rusted and been left to rot,’’ she said.

‘‘It was a bit scary going into the abandoned sites, but I just squeezed through holes in fences.

‘‘The portraits represent how physical, spiritual and psychological identity is threatened by industrialisation, which removes individual human inspiration and imagination.

‘‘We now face a future of surreal, stunted landscapes.’’

Ms Psaltis also completed major works in English Extension II, Music and Society and Culture and was named on the All-round Achievers list for receiving marks in the highest band possible for 10 or more units.

She began her combined law and arts degree at the University of Newcastle in February 2015.

Artexpress at the Art Gallery of NSW will open to the public from Thursday.

The remaining works selected for Artexpress will be on display in venues across the state throughout the remainder of the year.

The exhibition will come to Maitland Regional Art Gallery between September 11 and November 1.

Rationale of the artwork

Alexia Psaltis
Hunter School of the Performing Arts

SUBSUMED

Photomeita
Prints to Breathing Colour Velvet paper

Subsumed is a series of portraits representing the threat to physical, spiritual and psychological identity from rampant industrialisation. The portraits identify how the dominance of industry removes individual human inspiration and imagination. We face a future of surreal, stunted landscapes populated by impaired humanity, symbolised by the replacement of human physicality with machinery. I photographed all the images of industrial structures, objects and landscapes that convey destruction and invasion. I layered these eclectic images with the human portraits to represent the unchecked, pervasive presence of industrial processes in our lives. We are consumed by industry and its detritus.

What is ArtExpress?

ARTEXPRESS is an annual exhibition of artworks created by students from government and non-government schools for the Higher School Certificate Examination in Visual Arts. The works demonstrate exceptional quality across a broad range of subject matter, approaches, styles and media including painting, photography, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, documented forms, textiles and fibre, ceramics, digital animation, film and video, and collections of works.

ARTEXPRESS represents the high standards and diversity achieved by Year 12 Visual Arts students in New South Wales schools.

The continued excellence of the annual ARTEXPRESS exhibition is the outcome of a rigorous Visual Arts curriculum that builds on study from Kindergarten through to Year 12.

Visual Arts is part of the core curriculum in primary school and junior high school and a popular elective for the Higher School Certificate examination.

Student assessment in Visual Arts for the Higher School Certificate is based on submission of a Body of Work plus a written examination. Each students develops their submission through a process, recorded in a Visual Arts Process Diary, which reflects the problem-solving approach of the practising artist.

Equally important especially at senior level, is critical study and art history which plays a crucial role in informing the artworks produced by students.

The works chosen for ARTEXPRESS are a representative selection from over 12,000 examination submissions and reflect not only the talent of the individual students, but also the strength of the curriculum and excellence of Visual Arts teaching in New South Wales schools.

Alexia is the daughter of Peter and Sheri Psaltis, who live in Newcastle, and granddaughter of the late George Psaltis and Alexandra Psaltis (nee, Feros), of Gilgandra, and later Earlwood.

ALEXIA Psaltis’ hair-raising expeditions squeezing through fences to photograph abandoned industrial sites have paid off, culminating in an eye-catching piece selected to hang in the Art Gallery of NSW.

The 2014 dux of Hunter School of the Performing Arts is the woman behind Subsumed, which has been selected for Artexpress, a showcase of the best works of art completed by NSW students as part of last year’s Higher School Certificate.

Of the 219 works selected for exhibitions in galleries across the state, only 37 have been selected for inclusion in the exclusive Art Gallery of NSW exhibit.

‘‘When I heard, I was jumping around in excitement, it was the best feeling,’’ Ms Psaltis said.

‘‘Out of all of my HSC achievements, that’s the one that really stood out to me.’’

It comprises six surrealistic portraits of female figures, representing Mother Nature, being consumed by industrial structures, objects and landscapes that convey destruction and invasion.

Each portrait includes layers of hundreds of photos she captured from both active and abandoned industrial sites including Kooragang Island, Cockatoo Island and around Hexham and Maitland.

‘‘I visited quite a few deserted and unused machinery yards where there was equipment that had rusted and been left to rot,’’ she said.

‘‘It was a bit scary going into the abandoned sites, but I just squeezed through holes in fences.

‘‘The portraits represent how physical, spiritual and psychological identity is threatened by industrialisation, which removes individual human inspiration and imagination.

‘‘We now face a future of surreal, stunted landscapes.’’

Ms Psaltis also completed major works in English Extension II, Music and Society and Culture and was named on the All-round Achievers list for receiving marks in the highest band possible for 10 or more units.

She began her combined law and arts degree at the University of Newcastle in February 2015.

Artexpress at the Art Gallery of NSW will open to the public from Thursday.

The remaining works selected for Artexpress will be on display in venues across the state throughout the remainder of the year.

The exhibition will come to Maitland Regional Art Gallery between September 11 and November 1.

Rationale of the artwork

Alexia Psaltis
Hunter School of the Performing Arts

SUBSUMED

Photomeita
Prints to Breathing Colour Velvet paper

Subsumed is a series of portraits representing the threat to physical, spiritual and psychological identity from rampant industrialisation. The portraits identify how the dominance of industry removes individual human inspiration and imagination. We face a future of surreal, stunted landscapes populated by impaired humanity, symbolised by the replacement of human physicality with machinery. I photographed all the images of industrial structures, objects and landscapes that convey destruction and invasion. I layered these eclectic images with the human portraits to represent the unchecked, pervasive presence of industrial processes in our lives. We are consumed by industry and its detritus.

What is ArtExpress?

ARTEXPRESS is an annual exhibition of artworks created by students from government and non-government schools for the Higher School Certificate Examination in Visual Arts. The works demonstrate exceptional quality across a broad range of subject matter, approaches, styles and media including painting, photography, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, documented forms, textiles and fibre, ceramics, digital animation, film and video, and collections of works.

ARTEXPRESS represents the high standards and diversity achieved by Year 12 Visual Arts students in New South Wales schools.

The continued excellence of the annual ARTEXPRESS exhibition is the outcome of a rigorous Visual Arts curriculum that builds on study from Kindergarten through to Year 12.

Visual Arts is part of the core curriculum in primary school and junior high school and a popular elective for the Higher School Certificate examination.

Student assessment in Visual Arts for the Higher School Certificate is based on submission of a Body of Work plus a written examination. Each students develops their submission through a process, recorded in a Visual Arts Process Diary, which reflects the problem-solving approach of the practising artist.

Equally important especially at senior level, is critical study and art history which plays a crucial role in informing the artworks produced by students.

The works chosen for ARTEXPRESS are a representative selection from over 12,000 examination submissions and reflect not only the talent of the individual students, but also the strength of the curriculum and excellence of Visual Arts teaching in New South Wales schools.

Alexia is the daughter of Peter and Sheri Psaltis, who live in Newcastle, and granddaughter of the late George Psaltis and Alexandra Psaltis (nee, Feros), of Gilgandra, and later Earlwood.

ALEXIA Psaltis’ hair-raising expeditions squeezing through fences to photograph abandoned industrial sites have paid off, culminating in an eye-catching piece selected to hang in the Art Gallery of NSW.

The 2014 dux of Hunter School of the Performing Arts is the woman behind Subsumed, which has been selected for Artexpress, a showcase of the best works of art completed by NSW students as part of last year’s Higher School Certificate.

Of the 219 works selected for exhibitions in galleries across the state, only 37 have been selected for inclusion in the exclusive Art Gallery of NSW exhibit.

‘‘When I heard, I was jumping around in excitement, it was the best feeling,’’ Ms Psaltis said.

‘‘Out of all of my HSC achievements, that’s the one that really stood out to me.’’

It comprises six surrealistic portraits of female figures, representing Mother Nature, being consumed by industrial structures, objects and landscapes that convey destruction and invasion.

Each portrait includes layers of hundreds of photos she captured from both active and abandoned industrial sites including Kooragang Island, Cockatoo Island and around Hexham and Maitland.

‘‘I visited quite a few deserted and unused machinery yards where there was equipment that had rusted and been left to rot,’’ she said.

‘‘It was a bit scary going into the abandoned sites, but I just squeezed through holes in fences.

‘‘The portraits represent how physical, spiritual and psychological identity is threatened by industrialisation, which removes individual human inspiration and imagination.

‘‘We now face a future of surreal, stunted landscapes.’’

Ms Psaltis also completed major works in English Extension II, Music and Society and Culture and was named on the All-round Achievers list for receiving marks in the highest band possible for 10 or more units.

She began her combined law and arts degree at the University of Newcastle in February 2015.

Artexpress at the Art Gallery of NSW will open to the public from Thursday.

The remaining works selected for Artexpress will be on display in venues across the state throughout the remainder of the year.

The exhibition will come to Maitland Regional Art Gallery between September 11 and November 1.

Rationale of the artwork

Alexia Psaltis
Hunter School of the Performing Arts

SUBSUMED

Photomedia
Prints to Breathing Colour Velvet paper

Subsumed is a series of portraits representing the threat to physical, spiritual and psychological identity from rampant industrialisation. The portraits identify how the dominance of industry removes individual human inspiration and imagination. We face a future of surreal, stunted landscapes populated by impaired humanity, symbolised by the replacement of human physicality with machinery. I photographed all the images of industrial structures, objects and landscapes that convey destruction and invasion. I layered these eclectic images with the human portraits to represent the unchecked, pervasive presence of industrial processes in our lives. We are consumed by industry and its detritus.

What is ArtExpress?

ARTEXPRESS is an annual exhibition of artworks created by students from government and non-government schools for the Higher School Certificate Examination in Visual Arts. The works demonstrate exceptional quality across a broad range of subject matter, approaches, styles and media including painting, photography, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, documented forms, textiles and fibre, ceramics, digital animation, film and video, and collections of works.

ARTEXPRESS represents the high standards and diversity achieved by Year 12 Visual Arts students in New South Wales schools.

The continued excellence of the annual ARTEXPRESS exhibition is the outcome of a rigorous Visual Arts curriculum that builds on study from Kindergarten through to Year 12.

Visual Arts is part of the core curriculum in primary school and junior high school and a popular elective for the Higher School Certificate examination.

Student assessment in Visual Arts for the Higher School Certificate is based on submission of a Body of Work plus a written examination. Each students develops their submission through a process, recorded in a Visual Arts Process Diary, which reflects the problem-solving approach of the practising artist.

Equally important especially at senior level, is critical study and art history which plays a crucial role in informing the artworks produced by students.

The works chosen for ARTEXPRESS are a representative selection from over 12,000 examination submissions and reflect not only the talent of the individual students, but also the strength of the curriculum and excellence of Visual Arts teaching in New South Wales schools.

Alexia is the daughter of Peter and Sheri Psaltis, who live in Newcastle, and granddaughter of the late George Psaltis and Alexandra Psaltis (nee, Feros), of Gilgandra, and later Earlwood.

ALEXIA Psaltis’ hair-raising expeditions squeezing through fences to photograph abandoned industrial sites have paid off, culminating in an eye-catching piece selected to hang in the Art Gallery of NSW.

The 2014 dux of Hunter School of the Performing Arts is the woman behind Subsumed, which has been selected for Artexpress, a showcase of the best works of art completed by NSW students as part of last year’s Higher School Certificate.

Of the 219 works selected for exhibitions in galleries across the state, only 37 have been selected for inclusion in the exclusive Art Gallery of NSW exhibit.

‘‘When I heard, I was jumping around in excitement, it was the best feeling,’’ Ms Psaltis said.

‘‘Out of all of my HSC achievements, that’s the one that really stood out to me.’’

It comprises six surrealistic portraits of female figures, representing Mother Nature, being consumed by industrial structures, objects and landscapes that convey destruction and invasion.

Each portrait includes layers of hundreds of photos she captured from both active and abandoned industrial sites including Kooragang Island, Cockatoo Island and around Hexham and Maitland.

‘‘I visited quite a few deserted and unused machinery yards where there was equipment that had rusted and been left to rot,’’ she said.

‘‘It was a bit scary going into the abandoned sites, but I just squeezed through holes in fences.

‘‘The portraits represent how physical, spiritual and psychological identity is threatened by industrialisation, which removes individual human inspiration and imagination.

‘‘We now face a future of surreal, stunted landscapes.’’

Ms Psaltis also completed major works in English Extension II, Music and Society and Culture and was named on the All-round Achievers list for receiving marks in the highest band possible for 10 or more units.

She began her combined law and arts degree at the University of Newcastle in February 2015.

Artexpress at the Art Gallery of NSW will open to the public from Thursday.

The remaining works selected for Artexpress will be on display in venues across the state throughout the remainder of the year.

The exhibition will come to Maitland Regional Art Gallery between September 11 and November 1.

Rationale of the artwork

Alexia Psaltis
Hunter School of the Performing Arts

SUBSUMED

Photomedia
Prints to Breathing Colour Velvet paper

Subsumed is a series of portraits representing the threat to physical, spiritual and psychological identity from rampant industrialisation. The portraits identify how the dominance of industry removes individual human inspiration and imagination. We face a future of surreal, stunted landscapes populated by impaired humanity, symbolised by the replacement of human physicality with machinery. I photographed all the images of industrial structures, objects and landscapes that convey destruction and invasion. I layered these eclectic images with the human portraits to represent the unchecked, pervasive presence of industrial processes in our lives. We are consumed by industry and its detritus.

What is ArtExpress?

ARTEXPRESS is an annual exhibition of artworks created by students from government and non-government schools for the Higher School Certificate Examination in Visual Arts. The works demonstrate exceptional quality across a broad range of subject matter, approaches, styles and media including painting, photography, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, documented forms, textiles and fibre, ceramics, digital animation, film and video, and collections of works.

ARTEXPRESS represents the high standards and diversity achieved by Year 12 Visual Arts students in New South Wales schools.

The continued excellence of the annual ARTEXPRESS exhibition is the outcome of a rigorous Visual Arts curriculum that builds on study from Kindergarten through to Year 12.

Visual Arts is part of the core curriculum in primary school and junior high school and a popular elective for the Higher School Certificate examination.

Student assessment in Visual Arts for the Higher School Certificate is based on submission of a Body of Work plus a written examination. Each students develops their submission through a process, recorded in a Visual Arts Process Diary, which reflects the problem-solving approach of the practising artist.

Equally important especially at senior level, is critical study and art history which plays a crucial role in informing the artworks produced by students.

The works chosen for ARTEXPRESS are a representative selection from over 12,000 examination submissions and reflect not only the talent of the individual students, but also the strength of the curriculum and excellence of Visual Arts teaching in New South Wales schools.

Drawing is a crucial tool in an architect’s kit, but it’s use goes way beyond drafting building plans. Six (prominent Australian) architects tell Katrina Strickland when and where they sketch – and how much it means to them.

One of the 6 Australian architects chosen to comment was Kytherian architect.....

Eva-Marie Prineas

Architect Prineas

Once I began studying architecture, the way I sketched changed. I sketch in the office and also try to sketch when we go away, although with two children aged three and five it is easier when I travel alone. I probably don’t sketch enough in meetings because l'm self-conscious. I’m not confident enough to sketch in front of a client when the idea is not yet fully formed. But I have seen how sketching can completely seduce a client - some architects are masters.

My father is from the Greek island of Kythera, which is south of the Peloponnese and north of Crete. When l was at university I started working on a conservation plan for our family house, which is at the top of the island in a village called Mitata.

When you go there it is like stepping back into the 1940’s. We got married there and until we had children, travelled there every summer. Our neighbour in Mitata, who is also an architect, organised a week of tango one summer. This sketch is of the master classes we would have in the morning in the old school house at the main square.

The image above is from the island of Naoshima in Japan, where there are a number of art museums including Chichu.

To enter one of the galleries here, you have to remove your shoes and put on little slippers. You go through a dark space first, then emerge into a diffusely lit white room. Three significant Monet paintings appear to float on each of the walls. I made this sketch from memory afterwards. I was taken by the small moves the architect made, which completely changed the way I perceived the paintings.

Masaaki was introduced to Greek culture, and the work of Lacadio Hearn, through Art Collector, Takis Efsathiou.

Masaaki first met Lafcadio Hearn's grandson, Bon Koizumi at the Matsue Muesum, in Japan on July 5th 1996.

Takis Efstathiou organized Masaaki's first one person exhibition at the gallery Cyclades Antiebs in France in1995. At this time Masaaki travelled to Greece for the first time.

He visited Takis holiday house at Coulf, and then travelled to Lefkatha, Delfi and Athens. This visit had a profound infuence on his life and art, and began his involvement with Lafcadio Hearn, Greek culture, and Greece.

Takis Efstathiou then visited Japan for the first time. Together, in 1996 they organsised the Theodoros Stamos exhibition at the Hiro Gallery in Tokyo. Stamos was very keen to visit Japan, as Japanese culture exerted a great influence on his life and work. Stamos created drawings and brush stroke painting such as the "Tea House", which display an obvious Japanese influence. Stamos was ill, unfortunately, and was soon thereafter hospitalized. He could not risk a visit to Japan.

Masaaki enticed Takis Efstahiou to visit Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Okayama, Hiroshima and Matsue. Takis became deeply involved with Japanese culture after this visit.

They have worked together since on a number of cultural projects, including the dedication of superb and significant sculptures to various Greek cities, which have resulted in a strengthening of the relationship between Greece and Japan.

Theodoros Stamos, a precocious member of Abstract Expressionism's first generation and a prominent figure in a trial that rocked the art world in the 1970's, died on Sunday at the Hatsikosta Hospital in Yiannina, Greece, which he entered 12 days ago. He was 74 and lived in Manhattan and on the island of Lefkada, Greece.

He died of a lung ailment, said Takis Efstathiou, a friend.

Mr. Stamos was never considered an Abstract Expressionist of the first rank, and was nearly a generation younger than its chief innovators. But he committed himself to painting while still a teen-ager and was among the style's earlier adherents. He was also a close friend to many Abstract Expressionist artists, most famously Mark Rothko.

When Rothko committed suicide in 1970, Mr. Stamos had been named one of the three executors of his estate, along with Bernard J. Reis, an accountant, and Morton Levine, a professor of anthropology. In 1971, guardians acting on behalf of Rothko's children filed a petition against the executors charging that they had sold a large group of paintings to Rothko's representative, Marlborough Gallery, at an unusually high discount that was detrimental to his reputation, and that they were wasting the assets of the estate. The petition demanded their dismissal and cancellation of the contracts with Marlborough.

The petition noted that Mr. Reis was an officer of the gallery, and that Mr. Stamos was invited to join the gallery around the time of the sale. He had an exhibition there in 1972. The case eventually led to an eight-month trial that concluded in 1975, when Surrogate Millard A. Midonick ruled that Mr. Stamos and the other executors were guilty of negligence and conflict of interest. He dismissed them, canceled the contracts with Marlborough and levied $9.2 million in fines and assessments. Mr. Stamos paid his share by signing over to the Rothko estate his house, valued at $435,000, although Judge Midonick awarded him a life tenancy.

Mr. Stamos's reputation never recovered. He continued to exhibit his work in New York City, but less frequently, and at less prestigious galleries. His most recent exhibition was at the ACA Gallery in 1992. Nonetheless he exhibited often in other parts of the world, especially in Greece. For an exhibition at the Hiro Gallery in Tokyo in 1996 the biographical data chronicled his involvement with Rothko, his estate and the outcome of the trial.

Theodore Stamos was born in Manhattan on Dec. 31, 1922, the son of Greek immigrants who ran a hat-cleaning and shoeshine shop near St. Mark's Place. He began to draw while recovering from a ruptured spleen at the age of 8. He attended Stuyvesant High School where he studied art, mostly sculpture, for three years, quitting in 1939 just three months before graduation.

During the 1940's, Mr. Stamos supported his painting by running a small frame shop on East 18th Street in Manhattan where his customers included such artists as Arshile Gorky and Fernand Leger. He had his first solo show in New York at the Wakefield Gallery/Bookshop, run by Betty Parsons, who would later become a prominent dealer for Abstract Expressionists.

He was included in the 1945 Whitney Biennial; in 1946, the Museum of Modern Art acquired one of his paintings. The Modern also included his work in its legendary touring exhibition ''The New American Painting,'' which introduced Abstract Expressionism to European audiences in 1958 and '59. Between the late 1940's and 1970, Mr. Stamos exhibited regularly in New York, first with Ms. Parsons and then with Andre Emmerich.

Mr. Stamos's artistic style coalesced in the late 1940's and involved muted colors and soft-edged organic shapes somewhat influenced by the work of Milton Avery and William Baziotes. It was a style that he adhered to for the rest of his life, sometimes paring down the shapes to glowing fissures of color. Its strengths lay in its sense of muffled light and its sensitive, modulated surface. In the late 1980's, these surfaces turned thick and lunar and at times the lines of color would be backed by relaxed, squarish shapes reminiscent of Rothko's compositions.

Mr. Stamos's work is represented in public collections around the world.

He is survived by three sisters, Georgina Savas and Chrisula Venetsianos, of Manhattan, and Kostas Stamastelos

Masaaki was introduced to Greek culture, and the work of Lacadio Hearn, through Art Collector, Takis Efsathiou.

Masaaki first met Lafcadio Hearn's grandson, Bon Koizumi at the Matsue Muesum, in Japan on July 5th 1996.

Takis Efstathiou organized Masaaki's first one person exhibition at the gallery Cyclades Antiebs in France in1995. At this time Masaaki travelled to Greece for the first time.

He visited Takis holiday house at Coulf, and then travelled to Lefkatha, Delfi and Athens. This visit had a profound infuence on his life and art, and began his involvement with Lafcadio Hearn, Greek culture, and Greece.

Takis Efstathiou then visited Japan for the first time. Together, in 1996 they organsised the Theodoros Stamos exhibition at the Hiro Gallery in Tokyo. Stamos was very keen to visit Japan, as Japanese culture exerted a great influence on his life and work. Stamos created drawings and brush stroke painting such as the "Tea House", which display an obvious Japanese influence. Stamos was ill, unfortunately, and was soon thereafter hospitalized. He could not risk a visit to Japan.

Masaaki enticed Takis Efstahiou to visit Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Okayama, Hiroshima and Matsue. Takis became deeply involved with Japanese culture after this visit.

They have worked together since on a number of cultural projects, including the dedication of superb and significant sculptures to various Greek cities, which have resulted in a strengthening of the relationship between Greece and Japan.

Theodoros Stamos, a precocious member of Abstract Expressionism's first generation and a prominent figure in a trial that rocked the art world in the 1970's, died on Sunday at the Hatsikosta Hospital in Yiannina, Greece, which he entered 12 days ago. He was 74 and lived in Manhattan and on the island of Lefkada, Greece.

He died of a lung ailment, said Takis Efstathiou, a friend.

Mr. Stamos was never considered an Abstract Expressionist of the first rank, and was nearly a generation younger than its chief innovators. But he committed himself to painting while still a teen-ager and was among the style's earlier adherents. He was also a close friend to many Abstract Expressionist artists, most famously Mark Rothko.

When Rothko committed suicide in 1970, Mr. Stamos had been named one of the three executors of his estate, along with Bernard J. Reis, an accountant, and Morton Levine, a professor of anthropology. In 1971, guardians acting on behalf of Rothko's children filed a petition against the executors charging that they had sold a large group of paintings to Rothko's representative, Marlborough Gallery, at an unusually high discount that was detrimental to his reputation, and that they were wasting the assets of the estate. The petition demanded their dismissal and cancellation of the contracts with Marlborough.

The petition noted that Mr. Reis was an officer of the gallery, and that Mr. Stamos was invited to join the gallery around the time of the sale. He had an exhibition there in 1972. The case eventually led to an eight-month trial that concluded in 1975, when Surrogate Millard A. Midonick ruled that Mr. Stamos and the other executors were guilty of negligence and conflict of interest. He dismissed them, canceled the contracts with Marlborough and levied $9.2 million in fines and assessments. Mr. Stamos paid his share by signing over to the Rothko estate his house, valued at $435,000, although Judge Midonick awarded him a life tenancy.

Mr. Stamos's reputation never recovered. He continued to exhibit his work in New York City, but less frequently, and at less prestigious galleries. His most recent exhibition was at the ACA Gallery in 1992. Nonetheless he exhibited often in other parts of the world, especially in Greece. For an exhibition at the Hiro Gallery in Tokyo in 1996 the biographical data chronicled his involvement with Rothko, his estate and the outcome of the trial.

Theodore Stamos was born in Manhattan on Dec. 31, 1922, the son of Greek immigrants who ran a hat-cleaning and shoeshine shop near St. Mark's Place. He began to draw while recovering from a ruptured spleen at the age of 8. He attended Stuyvesant High School where he studied art, mostly sculpture, for three years, quitting in 1939 just three months before graduation.

During the 1940's, Mr. Stamos supported his painting by running a small frame shop on East 18th Street in Manhattan where his customers included such artists as Arshile Gorky and Fernand Leger. He had his first solo show in New York at the Wakefield Gallery/Bookshop, run by Betty Parsons, who would later become a prominent dealer for Abstract Expressionists.

He was included in the 1945 Whitney Biennial; in 1946, the Museum of Modern Art acquired one of his paintings. The Modern also included his work in its legendary touring exhibition ''The New American Painting,'' which introduced Abstract Expressionism to European audiences in 1958 and '59. Between the late 1940's and 1970, Mr. Stamos exhibited regularly in New York, first with Ms. Parsons and then with Andre Emmerich.

Mr. Stamos's artistic style coalesced in the late 1940's and involved muted colors and soft-edged organic shapes somewhat influenced by the work of Milton Avery and William Baziotes. It was a style that he adhered to for the rest of his life, sometimes paring down the shapes to glowing fissures of color. Its strengths lay in its sense of muffled light and its sensitive, modulated surface. In the late 1980's, these surfaces turned thick and lunar and at times the lines of color would be backed by relaxed, squarish shapes reminiscent of Rothko's compositions.

Mr. Stamos's work is represented in public collections around the world.

He is survived by three sisters, Georgina Savas and Chrisula Venetsianos, of Manhattan, and Kostas Stamastelos

This handwoven rug is titled 'Creation' and was designed by Joice NanKivell Loch and woven by Turkish refugees in the village of Ouranopoulis, in Greece in the mid 1900s. Joice and her husband Sydney were deeply committed to alleviating poverty in Ouranoupolis. While visiting an elderly patient suffering from malnutrition, Joice became aware that the village women could use their weaving skills to earn income and saw this as an opportunity to help the villagers become self-sufficient. She sourced wool and cotton, had a loom built, learned about natural dyes and formed a women's weaving cooperative called Pyrgos Rugs.

Joice's designs had a distinctive Greek rather than Turkish identity, as anti-Muslim sentiment was strong in Greece. Inspiration for the designs came from frescoes, carvings and illuminated manuscripts that Sydney would photograph for her. Joice translated the photographic image into an intricate design featuring Byzantine motifs. The design for the 'Creation' rug features a circular motif composed of a two-headed dragon which is biting itself and 'breathing out' evolving plant and animal life.

Joice NanKivell Loch, who was born in Queensland in 1887 and died in 1982, is Australia's most decorated woman. This rug, with its Byzantine-inspired design, reflects Joice's extraordinary life and humanitarian work. In addition to the selfless work she and her husband engaged in for decades in Greece, she was an Allied agent during World War 2. On one occasion, she organised a train trip and rescued Jewish children from Nazi death camps by dressing them as Gentile daytrippers.

This handwoven rug is called 'Creation' and was designed by Joice NanKivell Loch (b.1887) and woven by Turkish refugees in Pyrgos, Greece.

Joice Loch ran Pyrgos Rugs from her home in the historic tower of Prosforion in what was the former refugee village of Ouranoupolis. She organised a cooperative for the Turkish women of the village as well as the materials and looms. Most of the women and girls wove the rugs at home. Often two girls sat side by side at a loom weaving from designs Joice copied for them on graph paper - known as cartoons. Even girls who were unable to read or write were able to follow the cartoons which were nailed above the loom.

Joice's designs for the rugs had a distinctive Greek identity rather than Turkish, as anti-Muslim sentiment was strong. Inspiration for the designs came from frescoes, carvings and illuminated manuscripts that Sydney would photograph. Joice would translate the photographic image into an intricate design featuring Byzantine motifs. Natural hand-produced dyes were used for longer-lasting colour. Pink or pinkish beige as seen in this rug was produced by using pine chips with salt added as a mordant, or from willow bark to which alum had been added. Bright green was produced by fermenting cow manure and ivy leaves. A more brilliant hue could be attained by using human urine. Herbs, leaves, sawdust, berries, blossom, bark and beetles were also some of the ingredients used in the making of the natural dyes.

Pygros Rugs were marketed as luxurious collectibles featuring unique designs. Genuine Pyrgos rugs feature the 'Nutcracker Eagle' motif in some form.The motif is woven into a corner of the 'Creation' rug. The two-headed dragon is shown 'breathing out' evolving plant and animal life in a circular formation on a khaki background. The evolving plant and animal life is repeated in the border. The 'Nutcracker Eagle' motif is the oldest form of the double-headed eagle on nearby Mt Athos and originated from the carved wooden nutcrackers which were used by the early hermits on the Mountain.

The 'Creation' rug is testament to the extraordinary life of an exceptional Australian woman. Joice NanKivell Loch (1887-1982) was born into one of Australia's wealthiest families during a cyclone on a Queensland sugar plantation. The abolition of slave labour saw a reverse in the family fortunes and, determined to escape a life of poverty, Joice wrote children's stories and became one of Australia's first female journalists.

Joice met her husband, Sydney Loch, a Gallipoli veteran and writer, when she reviewed his Gallipoli book 'Straits Impregnable'. They married in 1918 and travelled to Ireland where they were commissioned to write an anti-IRA book. To escape the ire of the IRA, they travelled to Poland where they worked with the Quakers, rescuing countless dispossessed people from disease and starvation. In 1922, Joice and Sydney went to the refugee village of Ouranopoulis in Greece to work with the thousands of Greek Orthodox refugees fleeing Turkish persecution. They made their home in the tower of Prosforion which was built, in the shadow of Mt Athos, by a Byzantine emperor.

Joice and Sydney were deeply committed to alleviating poverty in Ouranoupolis. While visiting an elderly patient suffering from malnutrition, Joice became aware that the village women might use their weaving skills to earn income. They had been weavers in Turkey and Joice saw this as an opportunity to make the village self-sufficient. She sourced wool and cotton, had a loom built and formed a women's weaving cooperative, Pyrgos Rugs.

Being aware that anti-Muslim sentiment meant that rugs featuring Turkish designs in a Greek market would not sell, Joice based the designs for Pyrgos Rugs on ancient Greek motifs. She saw her rugs as 'art history' and also drew from prehistoric designs on cave walls in Australia, Africa and Europe. With perseverance and patience, Joice was able to persuade the women to weave rugs featuring Byzantine and other non-Turkish designs using natural dyes. Three of the very first Pyrgos Rugs designed by Joice won first prize at the International Trade Fair in Thessalonika. The success of Prygos Rugs was assured.

Other examples of Joice's courage and humanitarian efforts include working as an agent for the allies during World War 2. For example, she organised a train trip and rescued Jewish children from Nazi death camps by dressing them as Gentile daytrippers - it was given the codename 'Operation Pied Piper' by the British Foreign Office. Joice NanKivell Loch received a total of 11 medals from Greece, Poland, Romania and Britain for her humanitarian efforts and courage. She is Australia's most decorated woman and has been acknowledged by the Greek Orthodox Bishop of Oxford, as 'one of the greatest women of the 20th century.'

The 'Creation' rug was one of five Pyrgos rugs donated to the Australia Council. In 2005, the Council agreed to donate one of these to the Greek people for display in the Byzantine Museum in Ouranopolis (formerly the tower Prosforian which was Joice and Sydney's home.) Two rooms of the museum are dedicated to displaying Joice's work. The Council subsequently offered one of the remaining four rugs to the Powerhouse Museum; the rug selected was chosen as it best represents the Byzantine designs for which Pyrgos Rugs are renowned. The other three rugs have been retained by the Australia Council and are on public display in their Sydney offices.

Rectangular pile rug called 'Creation' with a Byzantine style design, handwoven with naturally dyed wool in pale green, khaki, pink and cream. The centre of the rug features four cream two-headed dragons, off-set from each corner. The two-headed dragon is 'breathing out' the evolution of plant and animal life in a circular formation on a khaki background; the evolving plant and animal life theme is repeated in the border which is itself edged with a narrow chevron outer border. The 'Nutcracker Eagle' motif in cream features in one corner, just inside the outer border, with possibly a Byzantine symbol in brown in the opposite corner.

Designed: NanKivell Loch, Joice; Pyrgos, Greece; 1930 - 1960

Registration number
2006/132/1

Production date
1930 - 1960

Width
1130 mm

This text content licensed under CC BY-SA.

Acquisition credit line
Gift of the Australia Council for the Arts, 2006